Filename: RC1087.TXT
Compiled from: "The Rosicrucian Philosophy In Questions & Answers, Vol. II"
                by Max Heindel

[PAGE 3139]

                       PROVING EXISTENCE OF VITAL BODY:

                              QUESTION NO. 131:

   IT SEEMS PERFECTLY LOGICAL TO ME THAT THERE MUST BE A FINER BODY SUCH  AS
YOU CALL THE VITAL BODY,  BUT IS THERE ANY WAY THAT ONE MAY PROVE THIS TO  A
FRIEND WHO IS VERY SKEPTICAL AND ARGUMENTATIVE?

   ANSWER:  "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still,"
says an old proverb,  and it is true.  So long as your friend is till in the
argumentative stage and not inclined to examine the proofs with an open mind
it is a waste of time to try to change his opinion.   We would suggest  that
you stop arguing; he may then become anxious and want to find out some more.
When he does,  there are a number of ways to prove the existence and reality
of the vital body.  We can mention a few.

   In the first place,  there is the camera.   Perhaps you can find in  your
town  among the spiritualists one able to take spirit  photographs.   Though
there  are  tricks well know to photographers whereby such pictures  may  be
produced,  it is nevertheless a fact that under conditions where  there  was
absolutely no fraud,  photographs have been taken of people who have  passed
into the beyond.  They have been able to clothe themselves in ether, the ma-
terial  whereof the vital body is constructed,  and which is visible to  the
eye  of  the lens.  The writer himself was once caught by the camera when he

[PAGE 3140]

traveled in his vital body from Los Angeles to San Pedro to see a friend off
on a steamer.  It so happened that he came between his friend and the camera
of another friend who was just taking a snap shot of the ship, and the like-
ness was so good that it was recognized by a number of people.

   Then  we  have the phenomenon of dogs following certain  persons  by  the
scent obtained from clothing they have worn.   This clothing is  impregnated
by the ether from the vital body, which latter protrudes about an inch and a
half  beyond the periphery of the dense body.   Hence also at every step  we
take the earth is penetrated by this invisible, radiating fluid.  But it has
been found that blood hounds following the fleeing criminal were baffled and
lost the scent because the fugitive had put on skates and made his way  over
the ice.  This raised him above the ground so that the vital body protruding
below his feet did not impregnate the ice and therefore there was not  scent
whereby the bloodhounds could trace him.  Similar results have been obtained
by a person walking on stilts from the place of his crime.

   Then there is the case of the magnetic healer who draws from his  patient
the diseased parts of the vital body which are then replaced by fresh ethers
that allow the life forces to course through the diseased physical organ and
thereby effect a cure.   If the magnetic healer is not careful to throw  off
the black-jelly like,  miasmatic,  etheric fluid which he has drawn into his
own body,  he  in turn will become ill, and if there were not such invisible

[PAGE 3141]

fluid as we speak of,  the phenomena of the patient's recovery and the  mag-
netic healer's illness could not take place.

   Finally, we may say that if you can find the conditions and care to go to
the  trouble,  there is one way and one condition under which a  very  large
number of people are able to see the vital body for themselves.  This is not
easily  accomplished in southern countries where the dead bodies are  buried
quickly after demise.   Select a time as close of the full Moon as possible.
Then  watch  the  papers for funeral notice and go to the  cemetery  in  the
evening  following  the funeral of someone who has died  within  twenty-four
hours.  You will then probably see above the newly made grave, flickering in
the moonlight,  the filmy form of the vital body which remains there and de-
cays sychronously with the body in the grave.   This may be seen at any time
by the seer, but it is only dense enough to be visible to ordinary people on
the  first  night after the funeral.   If you do not see it at  first,  walk
around the grave and look steadfastly at it from different angles.  Then you
probably get the most convincing ocular proof for your friend.

[PAGE 3142]

                        HAPPINESS IN THE HIGHER LIFE:

                              QUESTION NO. 132:

   WHY IS IT THAT IN YOUR WRITINGS THERE IS ALWAYS A NOTE OF SOMBERNESS, AL-
WAYS THE DARK THREAD, SO LITTLE JOY AND HAPPINESS?  IS THERE NO HAPPINESS TO
BE FOUND IN THE HIGHER LIFE?  CONTENTMENT, SATISFACTION, PEACE--YES,  BUT IS
THERE NO JOY?

   ANSWER:  "O wad some power the giftie gie us,
             To see ourselv's as others see us."
So  sang Robert Burns,  and he was certainly correct i his presumption  that
none of us can see ourselves as we are.  The writer was not aware that there
is  a dark thread and a somberness over all his writings,  but  perhaps  the
point  is well taken,  though it would be wrong to draw the conclusion  that
there is no joy and happiness in the higher life.   There is an  unspeakable
joy and a happiness that cannot be told,  in the privilege of being  allowed
to  help the thousands that come to us for aid and advice or spiritual  com-
fort.

   However,  while we realize the necessity and ultimate benefit which  will
result from the present great surgical operation the world is undergoing, we
would have to be a superhuman not to be bowed down with sorrow at the  sight
of all those hundreds of thousands, nay, millions,  who are suffering daily.
Three  and  one-half  years  of  work  with  the  wounded,  dying,  and  so-

[PAGE 3143]

called dead,  have failed to make us more callous than upon the first  night
when we were nearly frantic at the sight of the cruel carnage.   We endeavor
not to carry the experiences of the night into the day, as it would unfit us
for the work we have to do here,  but it is perhaps too much to expect  that
it would not stamp our waking life in some way.

   This may be a very good point for those students to consider who are  in-
ordinately  desirous of consciousness in the spiritual worlds.   To them  we
would  say that we envy them and would gladly exchange places with them  and
be rid of the sorrowful sights which duty and love of our fellow men  compel
us to witness nightly, though, of course, wild horses could not drag us away
from the suffering soldiers or their bereaved relatives.   We would not give
up the privilege of helping for anything, but we do wish we were unconscious
of our work when we return to the body.   Then we should be much happier and
probably agree to infuse happiness into our writings.

   Our personality would always best be kept in the background,  but if stu-
dents will take this to heart perhaps the answer to this question may  serve
a good purpose.

[PAGE 3144]

                             THE WEDDING GARMENT:

                              QUESTION NO. 133:

   WHAT  WILL  BE THE CONDITION OF THOSE WHO HAVE NOT PREPARED  THE  WEDDING
GARMENT WHEN CHRIST COMES?   WILL THEY STILL LIVE ON EARTH AND GO ON  EVOLV-
ING?

   ANSWER:  That is very difficult to say.  A great number of those who were
left  behind  in Atlantis because they had not evolved lungs so  they  could
live in our atmosphere,  have not been able to catch up with us yet.   There
is quite a grave doubt if people who have not evolved the wedding garment to
the point where they have some real growth will be able to live in that Age.
They may have to live at a later time and apart from us.

                             THE ELDER BROTHERS:

                              QUESTION NO. 134:

   PLEASE  GIVE  A CLEAR DESCRIPTION OF THE ELDER BROTHERS AND SAY  IF  THEY
FUNCTION ON THIS PLANE IN A MATERIAL BODY, ALSO OF THE LAY BROTHERS, ETC.

   ANSWER:   As far as the Elder Brothers are concerned they have a material
body just as you and I, and they  live  in a house which you might think the

[PAGE 3145]

house of some well-to-do but not ostentatious people.  They seem to hold of-
fices  of  distinction in the community where they live,  but it is  only  a
blind that they have these positions so as to give a reason for their  pres-
ence and not create any question as to what they are or who they are or that
there is anything out of the ordinary about them.  Outside of that house and
in that house and through that house there is what may be called the Temple.
It  is etheric and is different from our ordinary buildings.   It  might  be
likened to the auric atmosphere that is around our Pro-Eccelsia at Headquar-
ters,  which is etheric and is much larger than the building.  Manson's word
picture  of the spiritual church he built gives an idea of  what  structures
are.  They are around buildings and churches where people are very spiritual
and of course they differ in color.   This Rosicrucian Temple is superlative
and not to be compared to anything else,  but it surrounds and permeates the
house  in  which the Elder Brothers live.   The house is so  permeated  with
spirituality that most people wouldn't feel very comfortable there.  And the
Lay Brothers, have they a material body?  Certainly.  The editor is not very
ethereal and may serve as an illustration of the average.

[PAGE 3146]

                    PRAYER, CONCENTRATION AND MEDITATION:

                              QUESTION NO. 135:

   WHAT IS PRAYER?  IS IT EQUIVALENT TO CONCENTRATION AND MEDITATION,  OR IS
IT ONLY A PETITION TO GOD?

   ANSWER:  Unfortunately, as it is commonly practiced it is too often a pe-
tition to God to interfere on behalf of the supplicant and enable him to at-
tain  a selfish object.   It is certainly a disgrace that people  engage  in
violating the commandment of God,  "Thou shalt not kill,"  and pray for vic-
tory over their enemies.   If we measure the majority of prayers offered  up
today  by the standard set by Christ in the Lord'  Prayer they certainly  do
not deserve the name prayer.   They are blasphemies,  and it were a thousand
times better were they never uttered.

   The Lord's Prayer having been given us as a pattern,  we shall do well to
analyze  it if we would arrive at an adequate conclusion.   If we do so,  we
shall  find  that three of the seven prayers of which it consists  are  con-
cerned  with  adoration of the Divine"  "Hallowed by Thy Name,  Thy  Kingdom
come, Thy Will be Done."  Then comes the petition for the daily bread neces-
sary to keep our organism alive, and the remaining three prayers are for de-
liverance from evil and forgiveness for our shortcomings.   From these facts
it is evident that every worthy prayer must contain an overwhelming  measure
of adoration, praise, and recognition of  our  unworthiness, together with a

[PAGE 3147]

firm resolution to strive to be more pleasing to our Father in Heaven.   The
main object, therefore, of prayer is to get into as close communication with
God as possible, in order that the Divine Life and Light may flow into,  il-
lumine, and enable us to grow in His image and His likeness.

   This  is  a view diametrically opposite from the common idea  of  prayer,
which  takes the view that as God is our Father we may go to Him  in  prayer
and  He  is bound to give us our heart's desire.   If we do not get  it  the
first time,  we need only keep praying, and because of our very importunity,
our wish will be granted.   Such a view is repellent to the enlightened mys-
tic, and if we bring the matter down to a practical basis it is evident that
a  wise father having a son able to provide for himself would naturally  re-
sent it if this son should appear before him several times a day with impor-
tunate request for this,  that,  and the other thing,  which he could easily
obtain by going to work and earning.  Prayer, no matter how earnest and sin-
cere,  can never take the place of work.  If we work for a good purpose with
out whole heart,  soul, and body, and at the same time pray God to bless our
work,  there is no doubt but that the petition will be granted  every  time.
However, unless we put our shoulder to the wheel we have no right to call on
the Deity for assistance.

   As  said previously,  the burden of our prayers should be praise  to  God
"from  whom  all  blessings flow," for our desire  bodies  are  formed  from

[PAGE 3148]

materials of all seven regions of the Desire World in proportion to our  re-
quirements  as  determined  by the nature of our  thoughts.   Every  thought
clothes itself in desire stuff congrous to its nature.   This applies to the
thoughts formed and expressed in prayer.  If selfish,  they attract to them-
selves an envelope composed of the substance of the lower regions of the De-
sire World,  but if they are noble, unselfish, and altruistic,  they vibrate
to the higher pitch of the regions of soul-light, soul-life, and soul-power.
They clothe themselves in this material,  giving added life and light to our
spiritual nature.  Even when we pray for others it is detrimental to ask for
anything material or worldly.  It is permissable to ask for health,  but not
for  economic prosperity.   "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His  Righ-
teousness" is the commandment.  When we comply with that command we may rest
assured that "all these things" will also be given.  Therefore, when we pray
for  a friend let us put our whole heart and soul into the petition that  he
may permanently seek the Way, the Truth, and the Life, for having once found
that greatest of all treasures no real necessity will ever be denied.

   Nor is this theory,  at all.  Thousands of people,  the writer  included,
have found that "Our Father in Heaven" will take care of our material  needs
when we endeavor to live the spiritual life.  However, in the final analysis
it  is not the spoken prayer that helps.   There are people who can  lead  a
congregation in a  prayer  that  is perfection both in language and poetical

[PAGE 3149]

They may even conform their prayers to the principles laid down by the  Lord
as  enunciated  in our opening paragraphs,  and yet that prayer  may  be  an
abomination  because  it lacks the one essential  requirement.   Unless  our
whole life is a prayer we cannot be pleasing to God no matter how  beautiful
our petitions may be.   On the other hand, if we strive from day to day  and
from  year to year to live according to His will,  then even though we  our-
selves  know that we fall far short of our ideal,  and even though we,  like
the  publican in the Temple,  are of halting speech and can only  smite  our
breast  saying,  "God be merciful to me a sinner,"  we shall find  that  the
Spirit itself, knowing our needs, makes intercession for us with unutterable
groanings,  and that our modest supplication before the Throne of Grace will
avail more than all the flowery speeches we could possibly make.

   You also ask:  Is prayer equivalent to concentration and meditation?

   Concentration  consists of focusing thought upon a single point,  as  the
Sun's rays are focused by means of a glass.   When diffused over the surface
of the whole earth it gives but a moderate warmth,  but even a few Sun  rays
focused  through an ordinary reading glass will set inflammable material  on
which it is focused afire.   Similarly, though flitting through the brain as
water  runs through a sieve,  is of no value,  but when concentrated upon  a
certain  object  it  increases  in  intensity  and  will achieve the purpose

[PAGE 3150]

involved for good or ill.  Members of a certain order have practiced concen-
tration on their enemies for centuries,  and it was found that misfortune or
death always overtook the object of their disfavor.   We hear among  certain
groups  today of "malicious magnetism" applied by concentration of  thought.
ON  the other hand,  concentration of though power may also be used to  heal
and help,  nor are examples wanting to substantiate this statement.   We may
therefore  say that concentration is the direct application of though  power
to the attainment of a certain definite object which may be good or evil ac-
cording to the character of the person who practices it and the purpose  for
which he desires to use it.

   Prayer  is  similar  to  concentration  in  certain  points  but  differs
radically  in other respects.   While the efficiency of prayer depends  upon
the  intensity of concentration,  which renders prayer far more  efficacious
than cold concentration can ever be.   Furthermore,  it is exceedingly  dif-
ficult for the great majority of people to concentrate their thoughts cooly,
calmly,  and without the slightest emotion,  and exclude all other consider-
ations  from their consciousness.   The devotional attitude is  more  easily
cultivated, for the mind is then centered on Deity.

   Meditation  is  the  method  of gathering by spiritual power knowledge of

[PAGE 3151]

things with which we are not ordinarily familiar.

   There is in THE ROSICRUCIAN COSMO-CONCEPTION.  a chapter which deals very
thoroughly  with  the method of acquiring firsthand  knowledge,  elucidating
these points at length,  and we would advise a thorough study of this  chap-
ter.

                               THE SILVER CORD:

                              QUESTION NO. 136:

   IF THE SILVER CORD IS ATTACHED TO THE SEED ATOM IN THE HEART OAT ONE  END
AND  THE CENTRAL VORTEX IN THE DESIRE BODY AT THE OTHER,  WHAT ORGAN IN  THE
PHYSICAL BODY DOES THAT CENTRAL VOTRAX CORRESPOND WITH--HEART,  HEAD,  FORE-
HEAD, OR WHAT?

   ANSWER:   That end of the silver cord which is anchored to the seed  atom
in the heart remains there immovable until death, but the other end, and the
point  where  the two halves of the cord meet,  as shown on page 97  in  the
COSMO,  are movable.  During the day time that central vortex where the sil-
ver cord is anchored it he desire body is placed directly in the LIVER,  and
you will find in the COSMO some very illuminating material if you will  look
for "liver" in the index.  The point  where  the  two  halves  of the silver

[PAGE 3152]

cord  meet  is placed in the solar plexus during the day  time.   That,  you
know,  is a very,  very vital spot,  and the seed atom of the vital body  is
just at the meeting point of these two halves of the silver cord.  When that
is in the solar plexus the fluid which comes from the Sun through the spleen
passes  the  seed atom of the vital body,  and is there refracted  into  the
rose-colored fluid that we speak of in our literature.  Thus the three great
centers in one body connected with the silver cord are:   the central vortex
in   the  liver--the  principle  point  in  the  desire  body;   the   solar
plexus--which is the stronghold of the vital body;  and the heart,  which is
the center of the dense body.

                     THE THREE PARTS OF THE SILVER CORD:

                              QUESTION NO. 137:

   WILL YOU PLEASE DESCRIBE THE SILVER CORD AND EXPLAIN ITS FUNCTION IN BOTH
MAN AND ANIMAL?

   ANSWER:   To answer this question fully we must refer to  earlier  evolu-
tionary conditions.

   Three Periods of evolution have preceded our present Earth Period.   Dur-
ing the Saturn Period we were mineral-like,  in the Sun Period we had a con-
stitution  like  the plants,  and in the Moon Period we  developed  vehicles
similar to the present animals.  We say "similar," for  the  constitution of

[PAGE 3153]

the  world was so different that identical construction would have  been  an
impossibility.  Fancy now, an immense globe circling in space as a satellite
about its sun.   It is the body of a Great Spirit, Jehovah.  As we have soft
flesh  and hard bones,  so also the central part of the body of  Jehovah  is
denser  than the outside,  which is misty and cloud-like.   Though His  con-
sciousness pervades the whole, Jehovah appears principally in the cloud, and
with Him are His angels, and other Creative Hierarchies.

   From  the great firmament of cloud depends millions of cords,  each  with
its foetal sac,  hovering close to the dense central part,  and as the vital
stream  of the human mother circulates through the umbilical  cord  carrying
nourishment to the embryo during antenatal life for the purpose of  evolving
a  vehicle when the period of gestation has been completed,  so  the  divine
life  of Jehovah brooded over us in the cloud and coursed through the  whole
human family during this embryonic stage of its evolution,  and we were then
as incapable of initiative as the foetus.

   Since  then  the Manna (Manas,  Mens, Mensch,  or Man)  has  fallen  from
heaven,  from the bosom of the Father, and is now tied by the silver cord to
the  concrete body during his waking hours, and even in sleep it  forms  the
connecting link between the higher and lower vehicles.   This connection  is
broken only at death.

[PAGE 3154]

   The cord is quite complex in its construction.   One end is rooted in the
seed atom in the heart; that part is made of ether.  A second part,  made of
desire-stuff,  grows from the great vortex of the desire body located in the
liver,  and when these two parts of the silver cord join in the seed atom of
the vital body located in the solar plexus,  this junction of the three seed
atoms marks the quickening of the foetus.

   But there is still another part of the silver cord, which is made of mind
stuff and grows from the seed atom of the mind located at a point which  may
roughly  be  described as the frontal sinus where the human Spirit  has  its
seat.   It  passes between the pituitary body and the pineal  gland,  thence
downwards,  connecting with the thyroid and thymus glands,  the spleen,  and
the  adrenals,  and finally joins the second part of the silver cord in  the
seed  atom of the desire body in the great vortex of that vehicle  which  is
located  in the liver.   The path along which this part of the  silver  cord
will  grow  is indicated in the archetype,  but  it  requires  approximately
twenty-one years to complete the junction.   The union of the first and  the
second parts of the silver cord marks the PHYSICAL QUICKENING which  depends
on  the complete destruction of the nucleated blood corpuscles carrying  the
life of the PHYSICAL MOTHER,  and the emancipation from her interference  by
gastifcation  of  the blood which is thenceforth the direct vehicle  of  the
Ego.   The junction of the second and third parts of the silver cord marks a
MENTAL QUICKENING and a consequent emancipation from mother Nature,  who has

[PAGE 3155]

then  completed the gestatory process necessary to start the foundation  and
framework for the temple of the Spirit,  which may subsequently build as  it
chooses, limited only by its past actions.

   During the daytime when we are awake in the physical world, the threefold
silver cord is coiled in a spiral within the dense body,  principally  about
the  solar  plexus (epigastrium),  but at night when the Ego  withdraws  and
leaves the dense and vital bodies on the bed to recuperate after the  labors
of the day, the silver cord protrudes from the skull.  The evoid desire body
floats  above,  or near the sleeping form,  resembling  a  captive  balloon.
There,  so far as the child and the undeveloped persons are  concerned,  the
Ego remains,  ruminating over the occurrences of the day, until impacts from
the physical world, such as the ring of an alarm clock, a call, or the like,
vibrates the silver cord and draws the attention of the Ego to its discarded
vehicle and causes it to enter.

   NO OCCULT DEVELOPMENT IS POSSIBLE UNTIL THE THIRD PART OF THE SILVER CORD
HAS  BEEN DEVELOPED,  but after that event the Ego may leave its dense  body
and roam the wide world, either consciously after proper training and imita-
tion,  or  unconsciously,  with the help of others,  or accidentally,  as  a
sleepwalker  leaves his bed and returns unaware of where he went or what  he
did.   In either case the third part of the silver cord,  which is  made  of
ductile, elastic mind stuff, serves as a link with the lower vehicles.   The
quality  of  the consciousness of the Ego when thus away from its dense body

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depends  upon  whether  it has formed a soul body of  Light  and  Reflecting
Ether,  which  is the vehicle of sense perception and  memory,  sufficiently
stable to take along.  If it has, the process of initiation will have taught
it how to proceed, and the Ego will have a complete consciousness while away
from  the body and a dependable memory of what occurred on  the  soul-flight
when it returns; if not, both consciousness and memory are bound to be lack-
ing or faulty to a degree.

   Having  acquainted  ourselves with the construction and function  of  the
silver cord as a link between the Ego and its vehicles,  we shall next study
its make-up and use in connection with the animal and its Group Spirit.   It
has been taught in the COSMO that habits,  tastes,  likes,  and dislikes  of
each  species are due to the fact that they are actuated by a  common  Group
Spirit.  All squirrels hoard a store of nuts for a winter period of hiberna-
tion,  all  lions crave flesh,  horses without exception ear hay,  but  ones
man's meat is another's poison.  If we know the habits of one animal we know
the  habits of all belonging to the same family,  but it would be futile  to
investigate the elder Edison to ascertain the source of Thomas A.'s  genius.
A treatise on the habits of a horse will apply to all horses,  but the biog-
raphy  of one man differs entirely from that of every other human being  be-
cause each acts under the dictates of an individual indwelling Spirit.   The
animals of a  certain group are directed by a common intelligence, the Group

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Spirit,  by means of the silver cord.   Each animals has its own  individual
silver cord,  so far as the two parts are concerned which connect the dense,
vital,  and desire bodies, but the third part which is connected to the cen-
tral  vortex of the desire body,  located in the liver,  is the cord of  the
Group Spirit.   By means of this elastic bond its governs the animals of its
tribe,  without regard to where in the world they may be,  with equal facil-
ity.  Distance is nonexistent from the viewpoint of the inner worlds, and as
the  animals  have no mind of their own,  they obey the suggestions  of  the
Group Spirit unquestioningly.

   In this respect children are an anomaly, for they also have the two parts
of  the silver cord developed.   However,  they have a mind from  which  the
third  part is growing.   Thus the Ego has no direct communication with  its
vehicles,  and therefore the human offspring,  which has the greatest possi-
bility,  is  at the same time the most helpless of all creatures  on  earth,
amenable principally tot he authority of its physical guardians.

   But though man is now individualized,  and emancipated from direct inter-
ference  with  his action by the leading strings of the cord  by  which  the
Group Spirit FORCES,  (there is no other word which will convey the meaning)
the  animal to do its bidding,  he is not yet fit to rule himself  any  more
than the child,  over which we hold authority till it is of age,  is fit  to
take charge of its own affairs,  and RACE SPIRITS still continue to rule the

[PAGE 3158]

nations.   Each nation, except America, has its own Race Spirit which broods
in  the form of a cloud over the land in which its people live,  as did  the
God of the Israelites, and in him "they live and move and have their being."
They  are his peculiar people,  and he is jealous God.   WITH EVERY  BREATHY
THEY INHALE THIS SPIRIT,  and if taken away they long for their native coun-
try,  because wherever they are taken THE AIR IS DIFFERENT and  carries  the
vibration of another Archangelic Hierarch.

   As times flies and we advance, we shall also be emancipated from the Race
Spirit  which  has lived in our breath since the time  Jehovah  Elohim  blew
NEPHESH--the vital air--into our nostrils.  These Spirits work in the desire
body and the Human Spirit, fostering selfishness and egoism.   When we learn
to build the glorious wedding garment, called the soul body,  which is woven
by   loving   self-forgetting   service,   and  the   mystic   marriage   is
consummated--when  the  Christ is immaculately born  within--Universal  Love
will  emancipate us forever from Universal Law,  and we shall be perfect  as
our Father in Heaven is perfect.

         "From ev'ry pow'r that holds the world in chains,
         Man liberates himself, when SELF-control he gains."

[PAGE 3159]

                       EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO:

                              QUESTION NO. 138:

   WHY IS IT WRONG FOR A PROBATIONER TO USE ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO?

   ANSWER:   This questions applies not only to Probationers,  but to  every
one  who endeavors to live the higher life.   Therefore we answer it in  the
ECHOS  so that all students may know that it is not merely  sentiment  which
dictates  our  ideas that we should not use any intoxicants or  drugs  which
muddle the brain.   That organ is the greatest and most important instrument
whereby we are doing our work in the physical world and unless it is in good
condition we cannot expect to make progress.

   Flesh  and alcohol have a tendency to make man ferocious and to turn  his
spiritual  sight  away  from the higher worlds and  focus  vision  upon  the
present material plane.  Therefore, the Bible tells us that at the beginning
of the Rainbow Age, the age where we live in an atmosphere of clear and pure
air,  so different from the misty atmospheric conditions of Atlantis  spoken
of in the second chapter of Genesis,  Noah first brewed the wine.   Material
development  has taken place in consequence of the present focusing  of  our
energies upon the material world,  which resulted from partaking of meat and
wine.  Christ's first miracle changed  water into wine.  He had received the

[PAGE 3160]

universal spirit at the Baptism,  and had no need of artificial  stimulants.
He changed water to wine to give others less advanced.

   But no wine bibbers can inherit the Kingdom of God.   The esoteric reason
is  this:   while the lower ethers vibrate to the seed atoms  in  the  SOLAR
PLEXUS  and  the HEART,  and thus keep the physical body alive,  the  higher
ether,  vibrate the PITUITARY BODY and PINEAL GLAND.  By imbibing this false
rebellious  spirit that is fermented outside the body and is different  from
the spirit that is fermented inside, by sugar,  these organs are temporarily
dazed  and  cannot vibrate to higher worlds.  If he takes too much  of  this
spirit of alcohol, the organs named may be slightly awakened so that he sees
the  lowest realm of the Desire World and all the evil things therein;  that
happens in the disease known as delirium tremens.  To sum up,  as the evolu-
tion of the soul depends upon the acquisition of the two higher ethers  from
which the beautiful wedding garment is made, and as these ethers are attuned
to the organs named in the same manner that the lower ethers are attuned  to
the seed atom in the heart and the seed atom in the solar plexus,  you  will
readily  understand the deadly effects to the spiritual man of  alcohol  and
drugs.  To elucidate I quote an incident of life.

   There is an old saying:  "Once a Mason, always a Mason."  That means that
when anyone has received an initiation in the Masonic order,  and by  virtue
of  that  becomes  a  Mason,  he  cannot  resign, for he cannot give up that

[PAGE 3161]

knowledge  and the secrets which he has learned any more than a  person  who
goes  to  college can give back his learning received at  that  institution.
Therefore,  "once a Mason always a Mason," and likewise once a pupil,  a lay
brother,  of a mystery school, always a pupil and a lay brother of that same
mystery school.  But though that holds good and life after life we come back
connected with the same order that we have been affiliated with in  previous
lives, we may in any one life so conduct ourselves that it is impossible for
us to realize this in our physical brains.   I will,  as said,  cite for the
benefit of all students a case which is very much to the point.

   When  I was taken into the Temple of the Rosicrucian Order in Germany,  I
was surprised to see a man whom I had met on the Pacific Coast.  That is,  I
had seen him a few times; we had never spoken.  He seemed at that time to be
in a station in the society where we were connected much above mine,  and  I
had never had personal acquaintance with him.  However,  he greeted me there
warmly, and seemed to understand all about his connection with said society,
about  our  meeting there,  etc.,  and I looked forward upon  my  return  to
America to getting much information from this brother when I should be  for-
tunate enough to greet him there in the West.

   When  I arrived at the city where he was,  I was told by  mutual  friends
that  he had been expecting me and was anxiously looking forward to  meeting
me.  When I did meet the gentleman, I at  once  went up to him and shook him

[PAGE 3162]

by  the  hand.   He also seemed to recognize me and called me by  name.   It
seemed  that there was every indication that he knew all that  had  happened
while  we  were both out of the body, because he had told me in  the  Temple
that  he  remembered everything that happened to him when out of  the  body.
This of course I believe, for he was of a much higher degree that the first,
into which I had just been admitted.

   On the day of our physical meeting,  after a few moment's conversation  I
said something which caused his to stare at me blankly.   I had referred  to
some  incident of our meeting in the Temple,  and he showed plainly that  he
knew  nothing whatever about it.   I had, however,  said so much that I  was
forced to say more, or appear foolish; so I told him he had professed to re-
member  everything.   This he denied,  and at the end of  the  interview  he
begged  me very earnestly to endeavor to find out why it was that he  was  a
lay brother of the Rosicrucian Order, yet could not remember that which took
place during his absence from the body.   He was as I knew at various Temple
services.  He took part, and yet in his physical brain he was absolutely ig-
norant  of what took place.   The mystery was solved a little later  when  I
learned  from him,  out of the body, the fact that he smoked cigarettes  and
used drugs which clouded his brain to such an extent that it had become  im-
possible for him to carrying anything through  of  his  psychic experiences.

[PAGE 3163]

When  I told him that,  while in the body,  he made a valiant effort to  rid
himself of this habit which he acknowledged.   However,  after some time  of
abstinence,  he found he could not do without the drugs and cigarettes,  and
therefore,  he has been up to the present time shut out from any  conscious-
ness of the higher life.   This is a very pitiful case,  and no doubt  there
are more.   They illustrate how careful we should be to be clean in our hab-
its,  to regard this body of ours as the Temple of God, and refrain from de-
filing  it as we would refrain from defiling a House of God built  of  stone
and mortar,  which is not one millionth part as holy as the body where  with
we have been endowed.

                              WHAT IS IDOLATRY?:

                              QUESTION NO. 139:

   IT  HAS BEEN STATED THAT WHEN THE "SON OF MAN"  IS MENTIONED IN  THE  NEW
TESTAMENT THE SUN SPIRIT IS INTENDED.   SUN WORSHIPERS HAVE BEEN  CONSIDERED
IDOLATORS.  WOULD CHRISTIANS BE CONSIDERED AS SUCH?

   ANSWER:   Everybody is an idolator who is not up to the present standard.
At  the  time  when  the Sun by precession left the constellation Taurus and

[PAGE 3164]

went  into Aries,  the command went forth,  "Don't worship the golden  calf,
that is idolatry."   Later when the Christian era came there was a new  cov-
enant  and they were not to practice Judaism with its burnt  offerings,  be-
cause the Christ had come and was a sacrifice once for all.   To perform the
ancient sacrifice was idolatry.   There is no other name under heaven  given
whereby we must be saved but by the the name of Jesus Christ.   Later,  when
Christ  has given everything into the Father's hands,  there will be  a  new
standard and it will be idolatry to revert to our present ideals.

                                THE LOST WORD:

                              QUESTION NO. 140:

   IN OCCULT LITERATURE WE FIND MENTION OF THE TEMPLE OF LHASSA, THIBET.  OF
WHAT BROTHERHOOD OR ORDER IS THIS TEMPLE, AND IS IT TRUE, AS REPORTED,  THAT
IT IS GUARDED?

   ANSWER:  According to all reports, and so far as the writer himself knows
form contact with the members of that community in the invisible world,  the
spiritual  attainment of some of the brothers comprising this order is of  a
very high grade.  They are doing a noble work with their people in the East,

[PAGE 3165]

but like any other institution in the physical world,  which is perceived by
the senses and open to visitors, however great the restrictions, it is not a
mystery school.  The mystery schools are all etheric and are only visited by
initiates who have learned to leave their physical bodies behind.

   With  respect to the part of the question which asks,  "Is it  true  that
there the Lost Word is known and carefully guarded,"  we may say that in all
probability it is.   However, it is also known and carefully guarded in many
other places in the world outside the mystery schools, and to make this mat-
ter thoroughly clear it is necessary that we should understand what  consti-
tutes the different grades of spiritual gift and power possessed by  various
classes of humanity and marking their stage in evolution.

   There are,  in the first place, the INVOLUNTARY CLAIRVOYANTS, who have at
times the power to perceive things and events in the invisible world.   When
the power is on,  they see whatever comes before their vision regardless  of
whether  they like it or not,  and they are unable to shut off these  sights
and scenes.  The next higher class is the voluntary clairvoyant, who is abel
to see whenever he wishes, anything he desires, and he also has the power to
shut off the view at any moment he chooses and return to his normal physical
consciousness.   Next above him in the scale of attainment stands  the  INI-
TIATE, who has learned  by  an act of will to leave his physical body and to

[PAGE 3166]

enter as a free Spirit into the invisible world.  There he functions as nor-
mally and as he does in this realm of nature.   He sees and hears everything
he wishes to,  but more than that, he has been initiated into the  mysteries
of the invisible world.  He not only sees and hears but HE KNOWS what things
are and what they mean.

   The voluntary clairvoyant who is able simply to see and hear is very much
subject  to  illusion  regarding the things that  come  before  his  vision.
Elementals,  which have the power to clothe themselves in the mobile  desire
stuff, take a particular delight in deceiving and even frightening clairvoy-
ants  of both the voluntary and involuntary class.   They may  ensoul  them-
selves in the shell of departed friends of these people and are  responsible
for a great deal of nonsense and misinformation given out at  spiritualistic
meetings.  For these entities to deceive the initiate is impossible, because
he has been taught in the mystery schools concerning such matters.

   Higher  still in the scale of spiritual attainment stands the ADEPT,  who
not only is able to SEE and to KNOW, but also has a POWER over the things in
the invisible world.  He is a graduate of the mystery school and has learned
to use the Creative Word,  the word of power,  which was lost by humanity in
its  descent into matter.   There may be one or more of these Adepts at  the
Temple of Lhassa in Thibet, as well as in other places of the world.  If so,
these people naturally have the  word  of power and they carefully guard it,

[PAGE 3167]

for it is a dangerous secret,  a two-edged sword,  which would certainly  be
suicidal  in the hands of one not evolved to the point where he is  spiritu-
ally fitted to have it.

                           CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME:

                              QUESTION NO. 141:

   IF  WE LOVINGLY WORK WITH PLANTS AND ANIMALS TO AID IN THEIR  DEVELOPMENT
AND EVOLUTION, WILL WE HAVE "BREAD TO SHEW" IN THE TEMPLE, OR IS THAT GAINED
ONLY BY SERVICE TO HUMANITY?

   ANSWER:  No, every kind act to another creature and every thought of love
which  we send out to other beings, no matter to what kingdom  they  belong,
reacts upon us in such a manner that it becomes a factor in our soul growth.
However,  it should be noted that if we bestow kindness and give our love to
plants and to animals, while withholding it from our human brothers and sis-
ters, we are making a grave mistake, for true charity begins at home.   What
would  we think of a man who neglected his own family and bestowed his  love
and care upon the family of some one else?  Surely,  we would not lack words
to characterize such conduct, and the same argument may be applied to anyone

[PAGE 3168]

who devotes his love to animals or to a garden full of flowers,  but who ne-
glects to do the same for the children of his neighborhood.

   We remember a case in point:  There was a very wealthy man among our Pro-
bationers  a  few years ago,  who was always complaining  of  his  spiritual
progress being so slow.   He moved in society and took part in all their so-
cial functions at the same time he was aspiring to follow the meek and lowly
Christ.   When we showed him his inconsistency he excused himself  with  the
plea that he would have to do this on account of his wife's desire.   He had
married her and could not break up the relationship,  which would be the re-
sult if he refused to accompany her to social functions.   We asked him what
then  he was doing to promote soul growth,  what interest he was  taking  in
those  not  so well situated as he.  Was he giving anything to  charity,  or
better still,  was he doing something in a personal way to help those not so
well placed and who needed his aid?  He admitted that he was not,  but then,
evidently  ashamed at being unable to show that he was doing  something  for
others  and  trying to EARN the right to work in a higher  sphere,  he  said
apologetically:   "Sometimes I see a dog that is hungry.   It  has  happened
once or twice that I have fed it,  and I am very fond of my dog here and be-
stow quite a lot of time upon its training."

   Now  you  will readily understand that whatever love this  man  may  have
shown  toward  his own dog and the expenditure of perhaps a  few  cents  for
scraps to feed a hungry dog once or twice  while  neglecting the opportunity
to  feed the hungry souls of his human brothers and sisters is not going  to
give  this man soul growth,  and of course like so many others who  discover
that there is no royal road, he dropped his interest in the matter.  It will
not  promote soul growth to pay for missionaries to go to China and  convert
the heathen there while your own immediate family is in darkness.   It would
not help you if you fed all the dogs and cats in your town and cared for all
the gardens which are there neglected, while omitting to look after your hu-
man children.   If you have done all that you can to let your own  immediate
family see the light, then it is good to send missionaries to China also, if
you  have the means.   If you have done all you can to bring love  into  the
lives of the children in your own home and in your own town, then it is good
to  care for the cats and dogs and gardens.   We can never do too much,  but
much or little,  we should make sure first that we expend our efforts in the
proper and legitimate sphere.

Continued with file "RC1088.TXT"

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